Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
Autism Res. 2022 Jan;15(1):93-102. doi: 10.1002/aur.2621. Epub 2021 Oct 9.
Adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience high rates of both unemployment and depression. Though job loss predicts increased risk of depression in the general population, studies have yet to directly examine this relationship among individuals with ASD. With the backdrop of rising unemployment due to COVID-19, we used a longitudinal design to examine whether employment changes predicted increasing depressive symptoms among young adults with ASD. Online surveys were collected from young adults with ASD at two times: just before widespread social distancing measures were adopted in the United States, and again 10 weeks later. Both time points included measurement of depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory-2). At Time 2, COVID-related employment changes and the perceived impact of those changes on well-being were collected. Of the young adults who were employed at Time 1 (n = 144), over one-third (37.5%) reported employment changes during the first 2 months of COVID-19. Most of this change was job loss or reductions in hours or pay ("job loss/reduction"). Controlling for Time 1 depressive symptoms, young adults who experienced job loss/reduction had significantly higher depressive symptoms at Time 2 than those without an employment change. Individuals' perceived impact of employment change also predicted depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that losing a job or experiencing reductions in hours or pay leads to worsening depressive symptoms among adults with ASD. Better supporting autistic adults in the workplace may not only decrease the likelihood of job loss, but also combat the exceedingly high rates of depression in this group. LAY SUMMARY: Though unemployment has been linked to mental health problems in the general population, this relationship is seldom considered among adults with autism. In this study, we found that adults on the autism spectrum who lost their jobs or experienced reductions in pay or hours during the first 2 months of COVID-19 had worsening depression compared to adults who did not have job changes. Our findings suggest that increasing access to employment may help alleviate poor mental health among autistic adults.
患有自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 的成年人失业率和抑郁症发病率都很高。虽然失业会增加普通人群患抑郁症的风险，但研究尚未直接研究 ASD 患者的这种关系。由于 COVID-19 导致失业率上升，我们使用纵向设计来研究 ASD 年轻人的就业变化是否预示着他们的抑郁症状会增加。通过在线调查，在两个时间点收集了 ASD 年轻人的数据：在美国广泛采取社交距离措施之前，以及 10 周后。这两个时间点都包括抑郁症状的测量（贝克抑郁量表-2）。在时间 2，收集了与 COVID 相关的就业变化以及这些变化对幸福感的影响。在时间 1 就业的年轻人中（n=144），超过三分之一（37.5%）报告在 COVID-19 前两个月发生了就业变化。这些变化大多是失业或工作时间或工资减少（“失业/减少”）。在控制了时间 1 的抑郁症状后，经历失业/减少的年轻人在时间 2 的抑郁症状明显高于没有就业变化的年轻人。个体对就业变化的感知也预测了抑郁症状。这些发现表明，对于 ASD 成年人来说，失业或工作时间或工资减少会导致抑郁症状恶化。更好地支持自闭症成年人就业，不仅可以降低失业的可能性，还可以减少该群体中极高的抑郁症发病率。
非专业翻译，仅供参考。
